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Light Heavyweights Bonnar-Griffin; Middleweights Sanchez-Florian To Determine The Ultimate Fighter™
April 9, 2005 Spike TV
LIVE T.U.F. Final Episode On Spike TV This Saturday From Las Vegas
Remaining 12 T.U.F. Fighters Will See Action In Preliminary Matches
Tickets On Sale At Cox Pavilion, www.unlvtickets.com
LAS VEGAS, NEV., April 5, 2005…Light heavyweights Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin along with middleweights Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian will determine who will become The Ultimate Fighter™ when the final episode of one network TV’s hottest new reality shows is televised LIVE at 9 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. PDT, this Saturday, April 9, on Spike TV from Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.
Also on the LIVE card, Ultimate Fighting Championship® legend and Hall of Fame member Ken Shamrock will battle rising UFC star Rich Franklin in the light heavyweight main event. Preliminary bouts will match the 12 fighters who also appeared in The Ultimate Fighter™. As a bonus, T.U.F. fans can view the first 12 episodes of the show starting at 9 a.m. EDT/6 a.m. PDT this Saturday as Spike TV televises the All Day Marathon leading up to the LIVE final episode.
The public also can attend the live show and tickets, priced at $350, $250 and $150, are on sale at the Cox Pavilion box office on the campus of UNLV, all UNLV ticket outlets and at www.unlvtickets.com. Tickets also may be ordered by telephone at 1-866-388-3267 toll free, or in Las Vegas at (702) 739-3267. Ticket purchases are subject to transaction fees.
Bonnar (9-1-0 in mixed martial arts) from Chicago, Ill., and a member of Team Couture, reached the final with a split decision victory after two rounds over Bobby Southworth in episode seven and with an arm bar submission of teammate Mike Swick in the first round in episode 12 last night. Griffin (9-2-0) from Athens, Ga., a member of Team Liddell, defeated Alex Schoenauer by tap out due to strikes on the ground in the first round of their fight in episode nine and defeated teammate Sam Hoger last night in episode 12 due to referee stoppage from strikes on the ground in the second round.
Florian (4-1-0) from Boston, Ma., a Brazilian jiu jitsu and muay thai fighter and a member of Team Couture, reached the final by defeating teammate Chris Leben with a well-placed elbow strike in round two of their match in episode 10. The strike opened a cut above Leben’s eye and referee John McCarthy stopped the fight due to the severity of the cut. Sanchez (12-0-0) from Albuquerque, N.M., is a submission wrestler and boxer for Team Liddell. He defeated Alex Karalexis in episode four with a submission by choke in the first round; choked out Josh Rafferty in the first round in episode eight, and won a tough, three-round split decision over Josh Koscheck in episode 11.
Shamrock (26-8-2) from San Diego, Calif., is recognized as one of the world’s top mixed martial arts fighters. He is coming off a first-round knockout of Kimo last June 19 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” was selected one of the two charter members, along with Royce Gracie, of the UFC Hall of Fame in December 2003. Franklin (18-1-0) from Cincinnati, Ohio, is one of the UFC’s most well rounded fighters. In his last UFC fight, the unassuming math teacher defeated highly regarded Jorge Rivera with a powerful arm bar last October in Atlantic City, N.J.
In the preliminary bouts, Southworth (8-3-0) from Santa Cruz, Calif., Team Liddell, will take on Hoger (4-0-0) from Davenport, Iowa, Team Liddell, in a light heavyweight match; Nate Quarry (11-1-0) from Gresham, Ore., and Team Couture, will fight Lodune Sincaid (15-2-0) from North Hollywood, Calif, Team Couture, in light heavyweight action; Leben (16-1-0) from Portland, Ore. and Team Couture will duel with Jason Thacker (4-1- 0) from Whonnock, British Columbia, Canada in a middleweight fight; Koscheck (4-0-0) from Buffalo, N.Y. and Team Liddell will fight Chris Sanford (5-0-0) from San Francisco, Calif., and Team Couture in the middleweight division; Swick (6-1-0) from San Jose, Calif., Team Couture, will battle Schoenauer (10-0-0) from Las Vegas, Nev., Team Couture, in a middleweight bout, and Karalexis (4-0-0) from Las Vegas, Nev., Team Couture, will fight Rafferty (7-3-0) from Cincinnati, Ohio, Team Couture, in welterweight action.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship® brand is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts sports association and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® fight programs feature six live pay-per-view events annually through cable and satellite providers. In addition to its U.S. distribution, UFC fight programs are distributed internationally throughout the world, including broadcast on WOWOW, Inc. in Japan and Globosat in Brazil. Zuffa, LLC licenses the distribution of UFC video games through Crave Entertainment and Take Two TDK Mediactive and its fight show DVDs through Studioworks Entertainment, a Ventura Distribution company. “Ultimate Fighting Championship,” “Ultimate Fighting,” “UFC,” “Submission,” “As Real As It Gets,” and the Octagon cage design are registered trademarks or trademarks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC in the U.S., Japan and other jurisdictions. All other marks that may be referenced herein belong to their respective holders.
The UFC’s next pay-per-view telecast will be UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2 at 10 p.m. EDT, Saturday, April 16, LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., when the two T.U.F. coaches meet for Couture’s light heavyweight title.
Line-up: Featured Bout Ken Shamrock vs. Rich Franklin
Light Heavyweight
Final
Middleweight Final Mike Swick vs. Alex Schoenauer Bobby Southworth vs. Sam Hogar Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Sanford Chris Leben vs. Jason Thacker Lodune Sincaid vs. Nate Quarry Alex Karalexis vs. Josh Rafferty
- News release from the UFC website with some editing from us (color, some highlights, etc...)
card subject to change
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